The Elephant in the Room is Cancer. Tea is the Relief Conversation Provides.

Cancer

Being Diagnosed: My Stage 4 Journey

by Jenney Bitner November 4, 2022

Remember the spring of 2020? When absolutely nothing major was going on in the world? While everyone else was dealing with the pandemic that shut everything down worldwide, just after my 38th birthday, I also was given the news that I had stage 4 metastatic melanoma. To make it more fun, I happened to be 24 weeks pregnant with my fourth child.

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Heartbeats of Chemo

by Sarah David November 3, 2022

As I pulled into the parking lot in March 2020, I noticed how empty the clinic was. Only a few cars freckle the spaces, most in the employee section off to the right. At the door, I am greeted by a woman wearing a surgical mask and holding a thermometer.

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Orgasms After Cancer: Part I

by Marloe Esch RN, BSN, OCN November 2, 2022

Understanding the “O” in “OMG!”

As if all the other side effects from cancer treatment aren’t bad enough, survivors can also experience frustrating changes in their sex lives, including newly altered (or absent!) orgasms. Why does this happen, and what can be done?

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The Pain I Feel

by Leah Duncan October 30, 2022

The pain I feel won’t go away
It lingers on day after day.
Treatment comes and goes
But the journey continues to have so many lows.

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The Unspoken Truths About Life After Cancer

by Chelsey Gomez October 27, 2022

One of the best kept “secrets” of the cancer world is something that is no secret to many of us. What is this secret you may be asking? It’s simple: life “after” cancer really really sucks. If a cancer muggle read that they’d probably shout at me, “At least you’re alive! Be grateful!” Yes, I’m alive, but I often ask myself at what cost? Am I truly living?

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Cancer Isn’t a Battle of Winning or Losing

by Christy Fennewald October 26, 2022

I was diagnosed with Stage 2B breast cancer at the age of 36 in February 2021. From February of 2021 to July of 2022, I endured a total mastectomy, DIEP flap reconstruction, 4 rounds of the “red devil” chemo, an axillary node dissection resulting in the loss of 20 lymph nodes, 33 rounds of radiation to my left breast, a total hysterectomy, daily doses of anastrozole, multiple recurrence scares, and countless scans.

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A Tribute to my Teammate and Friend

by Alyssa Greenwell October 21, 2022

You and me were a team
Found each other when we needed each other most
How are the holidays treating you?
A great opening line
It worked. A new bond formed

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When No One’s Around

by Leigh-Ann Elsey October 19, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic took away a lot of things, but I never thought something else could take away so much more on top of it all. COVID-19 took away celebrating my “dirty 30” birthday with friends and family, and two years of Christmases and New Years. But being diagnosed with cancer DURING a pandemic took away so much more than that. My name is Leigh-Ann, and I am a 31-year-old girl who has a strong love for reading, horses, and hiking. I’m from Barrie, Ontario, Canada, and this is my story.

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A Letter of Love

by Michelle Lawrence

Dear newer Michelle,

STOP. Pause. Please take the time to really listen to what I have to share. Sit down in a quiet spot, in the sun in the backyard, in your favorite chair. Take a deep breath. Ensure you will be afforded peace and quiet so that you really absorb what I am saying and take self-inventory. This letter is a letter of love that I want you to take to heart. 

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The Words We Often Use

by Allison Stults October 16, 2022

The longer I endure the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the more in depth I contemplate the words we often use to describe it: fight, battle, warrior, etc. I’m truly beginning to see that these are all the WRONG words to use.

Fighting implies that there is a winner and a loser. It also implies that with enough strength, strategy, and mental mindset, that cancer will just go away, and you’ll be healed. Spin it the other way, and if your cancer becomes more aggressive, incurable, or terminal then you lost the battle.

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